Gina sighed once more. She didn’t know how many other people had a bond like hers. Gina wouldn‘t talk about her special situation with anyone, not ever her parents. But it was something she practically grew up with. She always had Ranma in her head for as long as she remembered. It had its ups and downs. The catfist training was one extreme example of a bad time. Gina’s memories of each time Ranma spent in the pit was still blocked, being to traumatic for her brain to handle. That she was shy around her sister for a couple days before warming up again to her normal self was chalked up to being some kind of childhood phase by most. It had its good times too. But the best thing was the benefits. Ranma couldn’t help having access to her intelligence, and while he was not as smart as her, it did help him academically. Likewise, while Gina didn’t have Ranma’s martial arts skills, she did pick up on tactics and moves. While not of the caliber of fighter as her sister or mother, Gina would always try to solve a problem with her wits instead of her fists, she practiced it and was decent for a bookworm. Good enough to earn questioning glances from her mother at times, but not so good that she would readily go anyplace hazardous without Brittany by her side.
‘Remembering history is not going to get my Ranma saved. There’s only one thing to do about it. Grab Brittany and go to Japan. What could I tell her ... I’ll say I have a pen-pal, in Japan. And the last letter was disturbing. So we are going to go look into things. Yeah, that will do. Let’s see, I bet she’s in the kitchen, opening up some cans of tuna, at this moment.’
When Ranma awoke, he found himself in a strange house with strange people standing around him. His father, still a panda, was holding him and presenting him to the strangers.
“You, wouldn't be, by any chance ...” The man, who Ranma thought might have been the family's patriarch, questioned hesitantly.
Ranma shrugged his father's paws off of his shoulders. “Ranma Saotome.” He might of said more, or been more polite instead of curt, but Ranma was still very upset over his father's revelation. 'I suppose this is the family I'm suppose to marry into. I wonder which one is the ball and chain.'
“At last,” the man cried out, “how I have waited for this day!” The man then delivered a bone crushing bear-hug to Ranma.
Ranma wasn't in the mood to be hugged by a stranger, so he broke the hug and said in a surely voice, “You mind not doing that.”
One of the girls exclaimed, “Oh, he really is cute, like an idol star.”
Ranma glared at the girl who called him cute. The 'cute'-girl leaned closer with a puzzled expression before reaching out to poke his chest. Slapping her hand away, he retorted, “Do you mind? I'm not something you can just poke and prod.”
Her eyes popped open in surprise before her face settled into an expression of disappointment. “He is a girl.”
“What?” chorused the family behind her.
Ranma just frowned at them. “I'm a boy, thank you very much. I just sometimes look like a girl. It's a curse.”
The girls were looking at him oddly. The 'cute'-girl snorted in disbelief. “You mean as in like a were-woman?”
Another of the girls, a sister or friend perhaps, scolded the first one. “She's a guest, Nabiki, be nice to her.”
Meanwhile, unnoticed, the man had sat heavily upon the floor weeping heavily. The tallest of the girls finally noticed the weeping man. “Oh my, poor daddy, he was so looking forward to meeting the son of his friend.”
“He's disappointed? Some fiancé she turned out to be. This is all your fault, Daddy. You should of made sure Ranma was a boy.” The 'cute'-girl, who the other one called Nabiki, crossed her arms and looked sourly upon her father.
The man only weeped louder. “But Genma said he had a son!”
Ranma rolled his eyes, like he wanted to marry the annoying girl who called him cute and poked his chest. “If I can just have some hot water, or a bath, I'll show you I'm a boy. Not that I'd marry anyone against my will.”
The tall girl, who worried about her father, beckoned Ranma. “You can take a bath, if you like. The furo is already drawn and prepared. Come this way, Ranma.” Genma made to follow Ranma. “Oh my, I fear you'll have to leave your pet outside. You can hose it off later if it needs a bath, but a furo is no place for a pet.”
Ranma shrugged, he did not feel very sympathetic to his father at that moment. “You heard her, Pops. Go make yourself useful or something.” The panda seemed to sigh before shrugging and heading to sit by Soun.
“My what a well trained Panda you have,” the tall-girl commented to Ranma as Genma held up a sign that read, 'Can't I at least get some tea?' -flip- 'or sake'
Ranma snorted but said nothing in reply. They came to the furo door. “Here you go, miss. The bathroom is right in here.”
Ranma came out of the furo male. He was finishing up when his father had came into the furo. Obviously, he had wandered off when no one was paying him any attention. At least, now, they could get the explanations out of the way. Then he could explain that he was simply not interested in getting married right now. 'At least, not until I'm together with Gina,' he thought. He knew she was making preparations to come to Japan, he just needed to wait.
'The wait won't be so bad, love. I'm right here by your side, so to say, always.' Gina reassured him over the link.
They talked while he was bathing. He was of the opinion that the family was annoying. Gina offered that the curse would cause some confusion and disbelief at first, and that he wasn't giving them a fair chance. Of course, Ranma wasn't being fair simply because he already had someone he wanted to marry. When he argued that she would be the same way if the shoe was on the other foot, she had no real reply. The only thing they concluded was that it was good he was being up front about his curse and the sooner he told them all about it, the better. So Ranma was now preparing for the discussion he knew was to soon come up. He heard voices coming from a room. Taking a deep breath, he entered that room, the room of the father where he was laid up in his futon.
“I still say this stinks, Akane. Maybe you think dating a girl is better, but I strictly drive stick-shift.”
“I'm not a lesbian, Nabiki! I'm just saying I am happy I don't have to marry some boy. Boys are perverts.”
Ranma cleared his throat when it became obvious no one noticed he was there.
"Who are you?" Worried and concern looks were directed his way as the Tendos were suspicious of the sudden appearance of a stranger in their house.
"Ranma Saotome, told you I was a boy."
Disbelief crossed the faces of the three girls, but their father perked up immediately.
"Is this your idea of a practical joke?" The girl called Nabiki glared at Ranma as she crossed her arms over her chest.
The other girl that Nabiki was talking to soured as she looked at Ranma. "What do you want?"
Ranma sighed. "Well, I'd like to say it was a pleasure meeting you all. I think it's time I go, now. See all ya' never, if I get my way." Ranma turned to leave but the Tendo father jumped up from his bed and ran to block the doorway.
"Heh, heh. No hurry, no hurry. You're welcome to stay as long as you like. Oh, you don't know how long I have waited for this day."
Ranma bit his tongue to keep from saying how he already stayed longer than he had liked. Resigned to the fact he won't be able to leave just yet, he replied to Mr. Tendo, "No, I don't. How long have you waited?"
Soun was caught off guard, not really expecting anyone to question him about that. "Er, well ... I suppose since your father and I made that promise all those years ago."
"And how long ago was that?"
Soun chuckled. "Why, it was from before you were even born. I remember it well..." Soun trailed off as he got a far away look to his eyes. "We were drinking, your father and I, and discussing the future of Anything Goes. I lamented only having girls, Nabiki and Kasumi having been born already, and that I didn't have a son to carry on the school." Ranma could hear someone growling beneath their breath. "That was when your father got the idea -- or was it my idea? -- that if he had a son, than the son could marry one of my girls and carry on both of our schools for us. And the future of Anything Goes would be secure. Even if the Tendo school is superior to the Saotome school, with a marriage both could live on."
Ranma's eye twitched at hearing that his family school was supposedly worse. "I got a better idea than marriage. Maybe I ought to challenge you for the dojo, Gramps."
Soun chuckled good-naturedly. "No need, no need. The dojo is the dowry, after you marry one of my girls. ...Say, where is your father? I thought he was coming too."
As if on cue, Genma bounced in with a huge grin on his face. "Soun Tendo, you old dog's ass!" Genma opened his arms wide.
"Genma Saotome, you conniving thief of sheep dung!" Soun leapt into Genma's arms and they embraced. To Ranma's disgust, it wasn't a very manly moment.
'You ought to look at this. I think I know why I never had a mother growing up.' Ranma gave Gina a mental nudge to get her attention.
A giggle came back over the Soul-connection. 'I would never have thought your father could be so flamingly gay.'
Ranma couldn't help to joke in return. 'Are you implying you thought he could be non-flamingly gay?' But all he got back was a small laugh as Gina returned to whatever it was she was doing.
"Is this your friend, Daddy?" The tall girl who showed Ranma to the furo asked the question.
Soun nodded emphatically. "Yes, yes, yes. This is Genma Saotome, an old friend with whom I learned Anything Goes with." Soun then began pointing out his girls. "This is Kasumi, she's nineteen. That is Nabiki, she's seventeen. And this is Akane, she is sixteen. And means you must be Ranma Saotome."
Ranma only grunted in reply.
"Pick the one you want, she'll be your wife," Soun said proudly, like he was selling used cars to the Queen of England.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "What if the one I want isn't here?"
"Nonsense, I only have three daughters."
"Like I would want to marry some pervert," the youngest vehemently complained.
The eldest seemed to shrink back, as if trying to blend with the woodwork. The middle daughter looked Ranma up and down with an appraising eye. "The only thing I am wondering about, at this moment," she began to ask, "is where is the girl from earlier? Is she your sister?"
Genma pretended he hadn't heard the question as he began whistling off-key and looking everywhere but at Nabiki.
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I already told you, I have the body of a girl at times. It's a curse. Pops and I were cursed while in China to change forms when doused in cold water. Hot water changes us back."
Nabiki only snorted. "That's a bit too unbelievable. Otherwise, your joke isn't too bad. Rather creative. Is your sister still in the bath?"
Ranma hung his head in defeat. "I suppose there is only one way to show you."
"That's right," Genma enthused. But before he could do something stupid, like throwing Ranma into a pond, Ranma gestured for everyone to follow him and turned for the door.
"Why don't we take this to the furo." Ranma stopped to look to see if anyone was following.
The youngest, the one introduced as Akane, scowled at him. "Trying to peep on your sister? You pervert! I hate to think what traveling with you was like for her."
Ranma rolled his eyes again. 'Save me from this nuthouse!' He knew Gina heard his silent plea to her from the way her laughter filled his head. Ranma trooped on towards the furo. Akane chased after him to stop him from disturbing his sister, as she saw it, and the others followed out of curiosity. Ranma disappeared into the furo with everyone hot on his heels. Akane barged in nearly immediately after, only to find the room otherwise unoccupied except for Ranma.
"Huh? Where's your sister?"
The others filed in behind Akane. She finally noticed Ranma was removing his shirt. "Hey, you pervert, what do you think you're doing?"
"This," was all Ranma said as he dropped his shirt to the floor and turned the water to the shower on with one hand as the other held the shower wand over his head. The change was instantaneous with the water cascading down his form. Where Ranma once stood, the girl from earlier was now standing.
"What the hell?" Nabiki stared disbelievingly at Ranma's now perky breasts.
Ranma twisted off the cold water knob and turned on the hot water. Once the temperature heated up enough as the hot water from the tank replaced the water in the pipes that had cooled off, Ranma's form shifted back to that of a boy.
"See?" Ranma asked the assembled Tendos. "It's just a curse."
Nabiki filled a nearby bucket, used at bath times to rinse off, with cold water. Ranma could see what was coming next and just resigned himself to the fate of being splashed a couple times. He once again became female as Nabiki emptied the bucket over his head. While she stared, rather too closely for Ranma's comfort, Kasumi dipped the bucket in the furo full of hot water. As Kasumi tossed the hot water at Ranma, Nabiki, unaware of her sister's actions, decided to see how fully female Ranma became and swiftly yanked his pants and boxers down to his ankles. Ranma was on entire display as he got doused again, and all could see how he changed from all girl to all boy.
The girls stared at him; Kasumi did so abashedly, Nabiki was unabashed in her staring, and Akane became furious.
Ranma, meanwhile, suddenly yanked his pants up before clinging to the ceiling. "Do you mind?" He angrily demanded.
However, the two elder sisters were watching how the wet silk clung to his posterior form and were in no condition to reply. The youngest, though, was vocal and loud enough for all three of them.
"Come down here, you pervert, so I can thrash you!"
"Who you calling a pervert? I distinctly remember it being one of your sisters who couldn't keep her hands to herself."
"Well ... you turn into a girl. That makes you a pervert."
"Yeah, so if a girl turns into a guy, she's a pervert to?"
"Of course not, it's different for a girl to see a guy."
Ranma couldn't believe his ears. "You have a double standard. What are you, some kind of female chauvinistic lesbian?"
Akane really got mad, "Come down here and say that to my face, you ... you ... you boy!"
"Ha! You don't have to worry about any boy marrying you, lesbo. No one would want such an uncute tomboy for a wife."
"Like I'd marry a fem-boy like you," Akane shook her hands at Ranma.
Soun, anxious to get the engagement dealt with, decided to make some peace. "That won't be a problem. Which of my daughters do you want to marry?"
Nabiki, reminded she might end up with the freak, balked. "Akane, he definitely wants Akane."
"What?" Akane turned on Nabiki. "How could you even say something like that?"
"Well, you hate boys. You're in luck, he's a girl half the time."
Kasumi blushed and looked down. "Well, I could always keep hot water by the bed." A trail of drool was the only evidence she was still thinking of the free show she just got.
Akane and Nabiki looked at Kasumi strangely.
"Ah! It is decided, then. Ranma shall marry Akane," Soun joyfully proclaimed.
"WHAT?!" Two voices screamed in reply.
"Ah yes, good choice, Tendo. Why look, they already get along like married couples." Genma added his thoughts, making Ranma wonder this was why he was without a mom for more than a decade.
"I ain't marrying no one I don't love, and I sure ain't marrying no clam-digging, rug-sucking, muff-diving repressed lesbian that's built like a brick with thighs to thick, flat as a plate with a voice that grates." Ranma was not only rather creative with his insults, but he wanted to make sure his point got across. As far as the fathers are concerned, it fell on deaf ears.
Akane, however, heard him well. "I'm not sure what all you called me, but I challenge you. Meet me in the dojo, and when I win, you have to leave."
"Ha," Ranma responded as he dropped from the ceiling, "and when I win you have to walk around with a scarlet 'L' on your forehead."
"The letter 'L'? Is that for lesbian?" Akane was ready to hit him right there instead of waiting to be in the dojo.
Ranma laughed as he exited the room. "'L' for loser. Which way to the dojo?"
Genma and Soun took this as a sign of a match made in heaven, and decided to celebrate. The older sisters followed behind the pair, to watch the outcome.
While they were walking to the dojo, Kasumi leaned over to whisper into Nabiki's ear, "Do you think all guys look that big? Or just the ones who been on a training journey?"
Nabiki wasn't sure how to answer.
The battle in the dojo was very one-sided, as well as very brief. Ranma, while taking it as a challenge and not training, did hold back as he usually does when first fighting someone new. However he was expecting the self-proclaimed heir to the Tendo school to be better skilled.
"Hey, I wasn't ready," Akane complained. She was still unaware of the 'L' shaped bruise on her head.
Ranma snorted. "I let you swing at me first. Do you always attack someone when you're not ready?" The derision was evident in Ranma's voice. The implication that he thought she was lying was also equally evident in his voice.
"Let's try that again. This time for real." Akane advanced quickly, planning to feint and catch Ranma off-guard. The next thing Akane knew, she was upside down and backside against a wall. 'Loser' was spelled out on her head in bruises.
"I didn't even see him move. Did you see that?" Nabiki whispered to Kasumi, but she was still loud enough for Akane to hear.
Kasumi shook her head. "No ... I think I blinked."
Ranma was already leaving the dojo. "Guess your school isn't better then mine." He sneered.
Ranma ended up sitting by the table, moping, as the girls filtered in from the dojo. Akane went to rinse off in the furo. It wasn't very long before she came storming in.
"Loser? What the hell did you do to my head?"
Ranma smirked. "What, it fits you perfectly, loser."
Akane glared at Ranma. "Better a loser than a pervert."
"And who are you calling a pervert, butch?"
"And who are you calling butch, you cross-dressing freak. I bet you enjoy turning into a girl."
Ranma scowled. "I didn't ask for it to happen, you ignorant baboon. It's called a curse for a reason, or do I need to read to you from a dictionary?"
"Ha, like a dumb jock like you knows how to read," Akane spat back venomously.
Ranma simply got up and grabbed his pack. "Whatever. I'm going; there must be someplace or someone who can cure a curse. Perhaps an aura mage could help. You coming pops?"
"Go on, you're not wanted here anyways." Akane always tries to get the last word in.
"Who'd want to be wanted by a butch freak like you? I bet you're just a boy in girl's clothing trying to hide your tiny dick."
Ranma's only response was a table to the head from behind.
Upon awakening in a dark and unfamiliar room, he found Kasumi and Nabiki by his bedside.
"Please forgive my little sister. She's really sweet and kind, just a violent, man-hating maniac."
Nabiki snorted. "Oh, like that isn't an oxymoron. True, though."
"Whatever. Not like I have any intentions of being her fiancèe." Ranma blinked and noticed something. Besides still being a boy, his pants and boxers were missing. "Um ... where's my clothes?"
Kasumi blushed and Nabiki snickered behind her hand. "Uh, well, that is you see ..." Kasumi hemmed and hawed. "I thought that, maybe, being on the road and all, that you would have some laundry that needed to be done. They ought to be finished, later."
Ranma groaned. 'I bet Pops gave her the idea, to make sure I wouldn't go running off,' he thought to himself without much amusement. Ranma closed his eyes and wondered what else could go wrong.
'Frigga-fragga!' suddenly came over the link. Then he heard Gina sighed. 'Sorry honey, I was trying to hurry up and get there sooner. Sounds like a mad-house. But ... well ... setback. Looks like it'll have to be a week. Don't worry, I'll keep trying to get there as quick as possible.'
'It's okay, really,' Ranma soothed her. 'I can wait that long, if I have to. Just, don't keep me waiting too long.'
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See other episodes by Errol Peregrinus
(Posted Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:20)
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